Photo By Angela Turner | Fort Sill's JCU 3D prints not only target drones, but also munitions. This innovation...... read more read more
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FORT SILL, Okla. — Innovation at the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems University is saving the Army millions of dollars while helping prepare troops for the modern battlefield.
Established in 2023 under the Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, the JCU initially focused on counter-UAS operations for Army systems and threats in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. The university officially opened in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 and began with three core courses.
In early training exercises, university officials planned to use DJI Phantom drones as aerial targets. But at roughly $3,100 per unit, the cost quickly became unsustainable — especially when training up to 1,200 students per year to engage and destroy them.
Instead, the university’s team proposed a cost-effective solution: 3D printing their own drone targets, which resulted in a dramatic cost reduction — up to 91%. In addition, in most cases, university officials are able to recover damaged drones and either fix or replace broken parts, reducing total costs by as much as 99%.
“The Fires Center of Excellence is at the forefront of developing target drones,” said Col. Moseph Sauda, the inaugural director of the university. “So much so that the other centers of excellence, like Fort Benning and Fort Novosel, have been able to reach out to us directly to receive our 3D schematics, as well as our price points for ordering parts.”
Using commercial drones, the annual cost of target systems would have reached $4 million. By 3D printing drones in-house, JCU spent just $360,000 and was able to train the same number of students. With student throughput projected to rise to nearly 3,000 by fiscal year 2026, the university is on track to save nearly $12 million in projected costs.
“This has been a tremendous help to the force,” Sauda said. “We are collaborating and sharing information back and forth. This effort has significantly changed the game with respect to sharing of innovations and ideas.”
Beyond saving money, the JCU team is also investing in capability development. UAS pilot Matthew Theilacker said the team chose to pursue 3D printing to emulate evolving battlefield trends.
“We want to stay current with modern times,” Theilacker said. “We wanted to involve the printers to keep up with what we’re seeing overseas.”
Theilacker and his team have expanded printing capabilities to include attachable munitions and prototypes designed for realistic training scenarios.
“Currently, I’m working on a prototype to be able to drop a smoke grenade and drop one of our simulation rounds [for real-world scenario type simulations],” he said.
JCU’s efforts are already being integrated into the university’s Operators Course, as well as both Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training across the Fires Center of Excellence.
“We’ll fly them in the designated area and [Operators Course students] will actually have live engagements with the drones, being able to shoot them down,” Theilacker said. “What is unique is we’re able to recover the drones and fix the broken parts, send them back up in the air — depending on the damage, usually [in] around 15 to 30 minutes.”
“The university also supports FCOE BCT and AIT units by providing drones and trained pilots during field exercises,” said Jacob Cameron, the “Air Boss” for the university.
To date, JCU has shared its technology and training methods with other centers of excellence, combatant commands, U.S. Army Forces Command units and combined training centers.
As adversaries continue to develop and deploy new aerial threats, JCU’s cost-saving and life-saving innovations will ensure that U.S. forces remain ready to detect, defeat and dominate the skies.
| Date Taken: | 04.17.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2025 13:03 |
| Story ID: | 496099 |
| Location: | FORT SILL, OKLAHOMA, US |
| Web Views: | 44 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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